This is not “advice,” as in “I know this works.”  This is passing along information I received yesterday during a vet visit.  I accompanied one of our adopters to her vet yesterday.  She had noticed one of her cats had red gums, and wanted to see if  he needed treatment.

It makes sense to me that now that cats are kept inside more (and therefore have much longer lifespans) they’ll have more plaque buildup and perhaps need dental cleaning.  But cleaning by a vet is expensive, and not all cats will allow you to brush their teeth.  (Our vet told us when our Spencer was one year old, “Spencer is not a candidate for home dental care” … the unspoken words were, “unless you want to lose a finger.”)

Don’t stop reading when I write that brushing your cat’s teeth is the best thing you can do (I’ll tell you how in a minute), but make sure you read the easy thing you can do, a dental additive to your cat’s drinking water.

Here are the tips the vet gave on brushing your cat’s teeth:  Get a child’s soft toothbrush, and cut the bristles so they’re pretty short.  Dip the brush in tuna water, baby food, or something yummy and brush.  It’s the brushing that helps; it doesn’t matter that you’re putting food on their teeth.  And, as the vet put it, you’ve got to give the cat something to make them not mind your brushing.

These seems like too much work for a lot of cats, and unless my cat really takes to it, I’ll probably not do it.  But there is one thing I am going to do today:  Order CET AquaDent from Amazon.com. You put a small amount of this into your cats’ drinking water, and it helps prevent plaque buildup.  The thing that really sold me was the vet said, “The one I like best is not the one we carry.  I like CET AquaDent.”

So … no guarantees from me.   But buying the product by clicking the link above will give Tails High a 6.5% commission, (as it does on all sales made this way).  I figure it can’t hurt, and the recommendation yesterday is the third vet that has recommended adding such a product to pets’ water bowls to help their teeth.

[Editor's note: CET seems to make a bunch of other products, including Oral Hygiene Cat Chews in a variety of flavors.  And what cat wouldn't love Poultry-Flavored Toothpaste!]